South America is a continent consisting of 12 countries, French Guiana between Suriname and Brazil is a French overseas department. There are 17 major airlines in South America, the best known and largest LATAM Airlines was founded in 2012 through a merger between LAN Airlines from Chile and TAM Airlines from Brazil. The new brand name LATAM Airlines has been used since 2015, its headquarters are located in Santiago de Chile, Chile. LATAM Airlines consists of the following six divisions: LATAM Chile, LATAM Brasil, LATAM Colombia, LATAM Ecuador, LATAM Peru, LATAM Paraguay.

The second largest airline in South America is Avianca, the subsidiaries are named Avianca Ecuador, Avianca Costa Rica, Avianca El Salvador, Avianca Guatemala and Avianca Express. The cheapest flights in South America are operated by low-cost carriers Flybondi (Argentina), Azul Airlines, GOL Airlines (Brazil), JetSmart, Sky Airline (Chile) and Wingo (Colombia). Sky Airline and JetSmart also offer many flights within/to/from Peru, the country of Peru does not have its own budget airline.

Last update: June 2024

– TAME from Ecuador ceased flight operations in May 2020.
– Amaszonas Uruguay from Uruguay ceased flight operations in January 2021.
– Viva Air from Colombia ceased flight operations in February 2023.
– Ultra Air from Colombia ceased flight operations in March 2023.
– Amaszonas Bolivia from Bolivia ceased flight operations in August 2023.